Robbie Rogers: Thomas Hitzlsperger Coming Out 'Inspiring'

By
On Top Magazine Staff
Published:
January 10, 2014

Roughly four months after retiring from
the game, Hitzlsperger became the biggest name in soccer to come out
gay.

The German player said he came out in
part to show that being gay and a professional football player is
“not a contradiction.”

Rogers, America's first openly gay
professional soccer player, cheered Hitzlsperger's decision in an
op-ed published in The
Guardian.

“I could never have imagined that
Thomas was gay too, but it would have made a world of difference to
me if I had known, just as young gay athletes around the world will
be inspired now by Thomas's courageous decision to come forward and
share the truth about his life,” Rogers wrote.

“I don't know Thomas Hitzlsperger, or
if his experience has been anything like mine. I found that if you
grow up hiding the secret of your sexuality, even when you're an
adult and your career is no longer on the line, it's not an easy
thing to go public with something so personal – something you know
would make it impossible to play the game you love. That's what kept
me in the closet until I retired last February and came out.”

“It always feels funny when people
congratulate me for coming out, because they're congratulating me for
simply telling the truth. But at a moment like this, my first
thought is to congratulate Thomas. To thank him for taking the risk,
for himself and for all the people who will be helped and inspired by
his brave act. We can only hope that by joining the conversation, he
can help move it forward,” Rogers added.